Nicaragua: police raid on the headquarters of the opposition daily La Prensa
The presidential couple in Nicaragua (pictured in 2018): Daniel Ortega, president, alongside Rosario Murillo, his wife and vice-president.
AP - Alfredo Zuniga
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The police broke into the headquarters of the daily
La Prensa
on Friday August 13
, close to the opposition and the Chamorro family.
A new step in the repression of the opposition by the power of the Ortega couple.
Publicity
Read more
The premises of the newspaper were invaded Friday at midday by the police with a search warrant for suspicion of "customs fraud and money laundering".
The newspaper had announced the day before to be forced to suspend the publication of its paper edition for lack of paper precisely because, by order of the government, the batches of newsprint were blocked in customs.
The direction of the newspaper evokes a "sequestration" of the paper.
La Prensa is traditionally linked to the Chamorro family.
Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, husband of former president Violeta Chamorro, director of the newspaper and opponent to dictator Anastasio Somoza, was assassinated in 1978. Violeta Chamorro then took over as head of the newspaper before being elected president of Nicaragua ( 1990-1997).
Cristiana Chamorro
, the couple's daughter, was seen as Daniel Ortega's most serious rival in the run-up to the presidential election next November.
She is in the crosshairs of justice, for money laundering, and will no longer be able to stand for election.
The journalist is also a member of the executive committee of the newspaper whose manager is Juan Lorenzo Holman, a cousin.
The daily La Prensa is the only newspaper with national circulation in Nicaragua.
It has been around for almost 100 years and this is the second time its print edition has been suspended due to a paper defect.
The first time was in 2019.
Nicaragua: The daily La Prensa is the only national newspaper in the country (photo from 2005).
AP - ARIEL LEON
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega - who is running for a fourth term - and Vice President Rosario Murillo, his wife, rule out all potential rivals in the November 7 presidential election.
More than thirty opponents have been arrested, placed under house arrest or had to leave the country.
►
See also
: in Nicaragua, the last opposition figure left the country
The @CIDH y su @RELE_CIDH condenan the constant oficial persecución a la prensa in Nicaragua recuerdan there that the presiones directas o indirectas directed to silence the labor of the prensa afectan el debate democrático y its incompatible con el derecho a la freedom de expression.
- CIDH - IACHR (@CIDH) August 13, 2021
with agencies
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Nicaragua